Biot-Savart Law
A compass can be used to detect the direction of a magnet field!Copyright 2005 Bios~commonswiki, Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kompas_Sofia.JPG
Beginning with a class demo, students are prompted to consider how current generates a magnetic field, and the direction of the field that is generated. Via a lecture, students learn Biot-Savart's law (and work some sample problems) in order to calculate, most simply, the magnetic field produced in the center of a circular current carrying loop. For applications, students find it is necessary to integrate the field produced over all small segments in a current-carrying wire.
It is important that engineers know and understand how a looped wire can create a current so that imaging techniques such as MRIs can be as accurate as possible without physically harming people. During their lesson homework, students use the Biot-Savart law to find the magnitude and direction of a magnetic field due to current in a looped wire.
After the lesson, students should be able to:
- Explain that current creates a magnetic field.
- Use the Biot-Savart law to integrate and find the magnetic field of current carrying wire.